Google+ Update On Its Way, New Navigation Drawer, New Android App, Syncing Notifications and More

Today, Vic Gundotra and his team announced a new update to the Google+ app for Android. It’s bringing in quite a bit of updates to the app. The update brings in a new navigation drawer which is said to be “more consistent with other Google apps” which was a big complaint among many Google+ power users. We’re going to assume that means you can swipe over to get to the drawer without tapping the corner like you do currently. The update also allows you to view the number +1’s, comments and even reshares on a post. I know we could see +1’s and comments below, but not reshares. You can also delete photos from the Photos view.

Onto the notification side, the team is introducing syncing across devices, since many of us have multiple devices, this means you’l no longer have to see the same notification on multiple devices if you’ve already read them. There’s also a new notification tray with a bell icon that allows you to see if there is anything new waiting for you to check.

The update is going to be rolling out today and should be available in a few hours. Which is usual with updates. But we’re going to cross our fingers and hope we don’t get a staged rollout which we saw with the Google I/O update to Google Talk/Hangouts and the recent update to Gmail. We have the full changelog down below.

Notifications sync:

When you read a notification on one device, we’ll mark it as read on your other devices

Likewise: dismissing a notification (with a swipe or a click) does so everywhere, so you can say goodbye to annoying repeats

Notifications tray:

A new bell icon (in the Google Bar, and in the mobile apps) that lets you know if anything’s waiting for you

An updated notifications tray that separates unread from previously-read items

Android app:

You can now delete your photos from the Photos view

Tapping into a post shows the number of +1â€²s, comments and reshares

The left-hand menu design is now more consistent with other Google apps